Ian McKellen Is ‘A One-Off Half-Monster’ Artist

Just when you think you’ve seen everything a legend like Ian McKellen can offer on screen, along comes something like The Christophers. The modern film from Steven Soderbergh gives the beloved actor a deliciously juicy role to sink his teeth into: Julian Sklar, a bitter British artist with a penchant for devastating putdowns, harbouring wounds from his past as he faces the end of his career. Set him up against Michaela Coel’s hustling forger Lori in a more-or-less two-hander, and you have all the right ingredients for a twisty-turny battle of wills.

For McKellen, Sklar’s scabrousness was a major draw to taking on the role. “He was such a one-off half-monster, it was fun to impersonate someone like that. And just be glad that I don’t feel I am anything like that myself,” he tells Empire. While the real McKellen is a world away from the cantankerous Sklar, he saw ways in which his own experience could inform the character. “The way [Sklar] related to young people, the way he related to his fans and his detractors — well, it was easy enough to feed off my own life there. It didn’t take much to imagine what it would be like to be Julian,” he admits.

Still, Sklar is a complicated figure, whose layers are revealed over the course of the film. He’s a character who’s lived a full life, just as McKellen has – and that inevitably works its way into the performance. “He’s about my age, he’s had some celebrity. He’s been in love. He feels betrayed. He feels disappointed. He loses faith,” says McKellen. “Well, anyone of my age could have been close to those situations.” Get ready for another stellar performance from one of the greats.

Read Empire’s full Ian McKellen interview on The Christophers in the Steven Spielberg issue – on sale Thursday April 9. Pre-order a copy online here. The Christophers comes to UK cinemas from May 15.